Daily Times

Whenever man tries to know about the reality of oneself and the universe, he gets no answer. Greek sages said that rationality is limited but foolishness has no limit. If you ask a physician today that you have a problem, he would tell you that you have an illness, but if you ask him what health is he would be surprised because he does not know what health is. The most he can say is that the absence of diseases is health even though it is not a logical answer. A physician, after checking your tests, can tell you that you have diabetes, high blood pressure and a high level of cholesterol, but he cannot diagnose through any test that you are healthy. The physician only knows the cure for diseases but he has no information about the essence of fitness. That is the situation with human life as well.

We first create problems, set rules, and then die, following those rules and principles. So first we invent a disease, and then we continue to cure it. Depression, which seems to be afflicting every other person now, was not known to be a disease twenty years ago. But today it has become a proper department for treatment.

Euthanasia is a medical facility whereby a person suffering from mental or physical trauma can be medically killed. This method may be new to us, but the fact is that this it is legally available in many western countries, such as Belgium, Colombia, Luxembourg, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, and a few US states, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Hawaii, Vermont, Montana, Washington D.C., Maine (starting January 1, 2020), New Jersey and California. It is not easy for us to think of killing a distressed person. We have been taught that whatever mental or physical agony we have, we must live at any cost, and suicide is not permissible. But the modern world considers it a crime that any human being suffers from severe mental or physical agony, and people, society and state around him remain silent spectators.

Life is not just the name of living or of suffering for any purpose. Life is a peace affirming existence. When you lose your peace of mind, you think that life is lost too. More important than living is to live in peace, otherwise, there is no purpose to living. To live is a purpose itself; when you don’t have the comfort to live due to severe mental or physical misery you have the right to die in peace. The modern world calls it mercy killing or euthanasia.

It is always wrong for a human being to understand that the principles that we have made can never be broken, but not every principle is for every human being, nor is man born to die on principles. Man should only be comfortable, no matter what his formation, even if this comfort comes from the ending of his life, it will not be wrong at all. That is the most beautiful way to live.

Dying for a purpose makes sense, but living without a purpose makes no sense at all, hence dying is just as important as living

In this universe man does not come by his own will, but he can live by himself. Similarly, he can die at his own will. Laws are made for human beings and not humans for laws; therefore, no law can contradict human wellbeing. We may not understand this essential value, but the world recognises this fundamental right of man-that man can live and die at his own will.

Rationality, morality, religion and science have done wonderful service in their particular regions to make life beautiful, but the fact is that man has not yet achieved the absolute peace that can save him from boredom.

Suffering is not just physical but also a form of misery that is not always visible, an agony we can neither express nor show to anyone but we are living quietly bearing it. When we see no specific purpose for living, we should have the right to die for absolute peace. Dying for a purpose makes sense, but living without a purpose makes no sense at all, hence dying is just as important as living. Therefore, it is up to the state to decide for which person life has become an utter misery, allow that person to die, and to arrange a mercy death for him or her.

There are many physical and metaphysical miseries that are almost impossible for humans to endure like paralysed lower or upper body, prolonged coma, condition of mental disorder that is absolutely harmful to the afflicted, and the ultimate stage of obsessive-compulsive disorder. In all such cases, the state can decide, based on the patient’s condition, the option for euthanasia. This is a very advanced level legislation that will take us a long time to reach and understand because understanding the value of euthanasia is not so easy for us right now.

The writer is a psychologist and a polymath